First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.05, Zacks reports. First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 2.85% and a net margin of 1.35%. The company had revenue of $349.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from First Watch Restaurant Group’s conference call:

• Third-quarter revenue increased 10.7% to $349.9 million, supported by 1.0% same-restaurant sales growth and contributions from 147 non-comparable restaurants. Same-restaurant traffic declined 1.9%, but the company highlighted an 8.1% two-year sales increase and 0.8% two-year traffic increase.
• Adjusted EBITDA rose 17% to $39.7 million, with margin expanding to 11.4% from 10.8% a year ago. G&A leverage improved by 60 basis points, although restaurant-level operating margin declined 30 basis points to 19.4% due to higher food and controllable costs.
• Management raised its full-year outlook for Adjusted EBITDA to approximately $136 million, at the high end of its previous range, and now expects revenue growth of about 13.5%. Full-year commodity inflation is expected to be roughly flat, while capital expenditures were reduced to approximately $145 million.
• First Watch opened 16 restaurants in the quarter and 53 year to date, and remains on track for approximately 60 net new systemwide restaurants in 2026 and 55 openings in 2027. Recent restaurant classes are exceeding sales and return targets, supporting continued confidence in the brand’s expansion opportunity.
• Management plans to preserve flexibility around unit growth beyond 2027 because of higher interest rates and floating-rate borrowing exposure, while raising its long-term Adjusted EBITDA growth target through 2028 to more than 15%. The company is also testing TikTok GO and local linear television to broaden awareness and generate traffic, but these initiatives remain early-stage.

First Watch Restaurant Group Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of FWRG stock traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $13.70. The company had a trading volume of 116,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,467,903. First Watch Restaurant Group has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $11.37 and its 200 day moving average is $12.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $845.15 million, a PE ratio of 47.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 52.17 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FWRG shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Stephens lowered their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.90.

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc operates a daytime-focused restaurant concept serving breakfast, brunch and lunch. Its restaurants offer made-to-order meals such as omelets, pancakes, French toast, sandwiches, salads and bowls, along with fresh juices, coffee and other beverages. The company generally does not serve dinner, positioning its restaurants around the daytime dining occasion.

First Watch restaurants emphasize fresh preparation and seasonal menu offerings, including items made with eggs, fruits, vegetables and other ingredients prepared in the restaurant.